Total U.S. Debt Load

Whew, I'm glad October is over.  Just think, the start of the Great Depression when the market crashed on October 29, 1929, the October 1987 23% crash, and 2008's wild ride all occurred in October.

In the 1920s to 1985, our debt load (that is all debt; consumer, companies, government), was 155% to the GDP.  Today it is 355% to the GDP.  If you look at a chart, it's almost straight up for the last 10 years.  The total debt is estimated at $51 trillion.  To get it back to 155%, debt would have to contract either in being paid off or written off by about $25 trillion.  That is clearly beyond comprehension.  The estimates are that the banks have written off at least $800 billion of that from mortgage failures.

As you have noticed from this blog and the last, I am focused on the word 'debt' because the more it controls us, the less freedom we have.  When it becomes extreme collectively, like now, more people lose perspective and end their lives.  Also, those in power decide too quickly on multi-billion dollar deals with far reaching consequences without considering the impact of the fallout from their actions.  True reason at the bottom and top is infected with emotionalism. And that emotionalism is created from the perspective of all parties involved.  They see through the lens of how they view and think of themselves and project it on the collective.

Again, my optimism sees the lessons of this country  and the value of the experiences we are journeying through.  Self-understanding is the key to a better life where the material is only one aspect of life.  As Socrates said, "A life unexamined is not worth living."  Use this time in creating history to take a quantum leap in your self-understanding.

I welcome hearing your views.